Further Thoughts on The Goode Family
It was hard to put my finger on exactly why I didn't like The Goode Family. The reasons that I gave, I do agree with. The characters are all annoying. They're clearly strawmen. The abuse of Che wasn't funny or interesting. It was written to someone who... at the very least didn't know where liberals were coming from. There was "awareness" over some of the problems that liberal politics create, but there was no earnestness. The people only believed what they believed to look ridiculous and to be proven wrong. For a good counterpoint, look at Mr. Garrison in South Park season 19 and 20. He's there to look ridiculous and to be proven wrong, but he earnestly believes in what he's doing. However, none of those things seemed to be... the exact reason I didn't like it. I'll admit that this review came out of a place of frustration. But I wasn't entirely sure over frustration with what. It's easy to say that it was out of some crazy ideas from the left, as we've been seeing more and more in the recent years. Especially this year. But... I didn't think that that was the exact issue, and trying to tackle this further thoughts from that angle always left me frustrated and annoyed and just not very fulfilled, like I wasn't talking about what the problem was. And the problem is that... this show isn't really a satire, at least not the first episode. It's an act of political prejudice. And... in 2016, acts of political prejudice continually turn my stomach. I've lost so much respect for so many people during this election because of their behavior. And we're going to be talking about some very dark recent events. We've all heard our parents say "you can't talk about this politician/president unless you bash them in my house" (or alternatively "you're not allowed to criticize this politician") and we've all got this relative that we're uncomfortable talking with because they seem so far left or so far right. And growing up, it never seemed like much of a big deal. However... now to me, it doesn't seem... acceptable. It's been leading to darker and increasingly bad behaviors. It's easy to see someone with a strong right-leaning opinion as some sort of traditionalist racist paranoid oppressive bigot. It's just as easy to see someone with a strong left-leaning opinion as some sort of regressive reductionist communist social justice warrior. And while those stereotypes do exist, not everyone neatly falls into those categories. But it's hard not to think someone politically active falls into one of those categories, right? It seems that people are more politically polarized than ever before. Now "seems" doesn't always mean "is." One of the reasons for this political polarization is definitely social media. People are able to say whatever they want, completely anonymously. And when you're able to do that, you feel more comfortable saying more controversial opinions. On top of that, websites like Facebook give you the news that's least likely to actively piss you off - the stuff you agree with. The more that you think people agree with you, the more comfortable you'll be with your own opinions, and the more you'll be willing to convey them. No matter how extreme they are. And so... now we know all of the thoughts in existence. These thoughts were always around before, but no one could really hide if they spoke them. If you went on television or wrote a newspaper or yelled on the street, everyone knew who you were. The greatest battles of my generation, I feel won't be based on race, or sex, or sexuality. At least, not directly. They're going to be battles of the left-right divide and battles of ideology. It may sound like a good thing, like this is less of a problem. Political prejudice doesn't lead to slavery, and it doesn't directly lead to oppression. But it does lead to wars. It leads to cover-ups. It leads to rioting. It leads to the break-down of democracy. It is the greatest weakness of democracy. Compromise makes democracy, and if people become too polarized, nothing will get done. "You know, until they all come to my way of thinking and then we can move forward/stop this country from going down the tubes." What you're advocating for is a totalitarianism of your opinion. If no one disagrees with you (on literally every matter), you do not live in a democracy. In my review, I said that I was a centerist. Of course, people accused me of being right-wing in disguise or... something ridiculous like that. But I will admit, that I've been having more problems with the left than the right lately. This is because the right hasn't really been in power lately, at least before 2016. Like I also said, "right-wing" has become an insult meaning "backwards, redneck, intolerant, racist, bigoted, and aspiring to be a nazi" And therein lies the problem. When you've convinced yourself that your enemy is Hitler then as long as you're not committing the Holocaust, you have the moral high ground when fighting them. And in turn, we get a lot of vigilantism from the left. Recently, a GOP building in North Carolina was firebombed. It's interesting how the anti-nazis are drawing swastikas on other people's businesses that they destroyed. 1 Why do people think that the horseshoe theory is bullshit? But it's an isolated incident, right? It's not like this hasn't and won't happen again. Especially if "all of my enemies are deplorable" rhetoric keeps going on. So, let's talk about the media. The mainstream media. Before this decade, it felt like anyone who talked smack about the mainstream media was... a paranoid conspiracy nut. Sure, most news stations were biased. And they took no qualms in hiding it. But how the media has been behaving this election cycle is truly disgusting, and to be frank - scary. I don't have anything against a news station backing a candidate. It's entirely within their rights to do so. They can give one candidate all positive publicity, and another all negative publicity. That's expected. Do you know what's not expected or okay, by any stretch of the imagination - lying. Outright lying. Earlier this week a man who looks strikingly like Nicholas Cage went on CNN, and with a smug smile, told people that it was illegal to possess leaked documents... but they definitely could. 3 Where do I begin with this? It's not so much that it's... a lie. It's how brazen and obvious that it is. It's not illegal to read Wikileaks. It's illegal to leak government secrets, yes. But so long as you're not the one who leaked them, you are fine. I don't think that CNN likes Wikileaks... because they cut off the satellite feed of someone who was about to talk about Wikileaks 4 And, of course we can't forget about CNN's selective edits during the Milwaukee Riots 8. Has CNN always been deplorable, or was it on this years' resolutions? But it's okay to lie to the public and suppress information if we're on a mission to destroy Hitler, right? /s Whether you're pro Clinton or pro Trump or neither, this should scare the hell out of you. Because, if they could do this to Trump, they could do it to anyone. Anyone could justify to themselves that this next person is going to start World War 3 and we need to throw out morality to be moral. It's not so much that they're all legally allowed to this, it's that they're all so willing to do this. And they wonder why only 32% of Americans trust the media 5, and yes, this is the result of political polarization and not wanting to give "the enemy" a voice. But I can't talk about the media hiding things and lying without talking about the Cologne New Years' Eve attacks in Germany. 6 If you're wondering, this destroyed any faith I would ever have in "political correctness." I'll give you the brief. During the New Years' Eve celebrations at the end of last year and the beginning of this year hundreds of sexual assaults, five rapes, and numerous thefts were reported in Germany. They were suspected to be migrants and asylum seekers, in a country that had been opening the doors for more than the average. How did the media respond? The answer - they didn't. 7 And the mayor had an even better reaction /s. She called for a code of conduct for women, which included staying an arm's length away from strangers. She also called it "completely improper" to link these crimes to migrants. The reason for all of this victim-blaming was to stop anti-immigration sentiment. Did you ever hear the saying that... the way to hell is paved with good intentions? (Honestly, that might be my entire problem with the left. That one saying). When people don't feel like they have a voice, they turn to extremism. By saying that anyone who wants to have any immigration reform or doesn't feel safe with open borders is an abject racist and saying that they're "at least as awful as the acts of those assaulting women" you... in a way, give them permission to be. What are you going to do when they actually commit hate crimes? Whenever someone calls a politician or somebody a "nazi" or "Hitler" and they're... not those things, the best response is always "so... what are you going to call them when they actually start advocating for genocide?" The news media in Europe only started covering the Cologne attacks when it proved to be inevitable, due to social media outrage. And yeah, they scapegoated the concern on "racism." Let's talk about prejudice. It comes more from fear than anger. Without fear you cannot have prejudice. Even in sentiments like "they're gonna steal our jobs" or "they're gonna blow us up" have roots in fear. Irrational fear, but fear nonetheless. And do you know what really builds up fear? Oh, I dunno, the media hiding the attacks, the government ignoring it, and people trying to silence their voice. But it's okay, because we're stopping racism, right? This is why internet censorship scares me. It's something that we absolutely cannot allow. There have been rumors that Facebook has been censoring conservative views. Apparently they shadowbanned Scott Adams, the cartoonist responsible for Dilbert. 11 But this goes beyond them. Twitter has been known to silence conservative voices. And here are two of my favorite subreddits: r/undelete 9 and r/RedditMinusMods 10. And then there's the YouTube demonetization project. There has been speculation that it's more likely to demonetize smack talk against one candidate more than the other. But it's okay, because we're stopping cyberbullying, right? So, England voted to leave the European Union this year, in this event called Brexit. It was so big that we heard about it over here in the United States, where it seems like we think the only other countries in the world are Mexico and Canada. It was a close election too, almost 50-50. And since people couldn't really say that half of their country was racist - even though, once again most people thought that only the racists would vote to leave (do you see yet why saying Trump is a racist hasn't stopped him?), so they needed a new scapegoat. Old people! What happened was that older people turned out the most to vote, and some astute young people took notice of that. So, twitter (of course it was twitter) lit up with people complaining about this, and some even going as far as saying that they should have a maximum age on voting. Because those that disagree with you shouldn't have a vote. The funny part is that... as long as older people keep voting more than younger people (as they always have and always will), you're not gonna get that reform. Also, anyone who argues for the disenfranchisement of any demographic is not only a massive fucking moron but absolutely morally reprehensible. One thing that bothers me the most is that everything has been put on a moral pedestal. If you don't want gun control, you're "letting toddlers kill their families and commit suicide" (I'd really like some evidence on that one Hillary). If you talk down this social program, you're a bigot. If you don't think the minimum wage should be raised, you're trodding on the poor. If you talk positively about immigration reform, you're a racist. Ignoring the issues themselves, this is something that needs to stop because it is the biggest cause of this divide. As I said in the beginning. If you can convince yourself that your opponent is a terrible person, there's almost nothing that you can't justify doing to them. And when you end up doing those things, they will have that same brand of logic and react accordingly. ----- 2016 has been a tumultuous year, and we have at least one event left, and I'm worried about the fallout in either direction. I fear that we haven't yet seen the fullest extent of what political prejudice is going to do to our population and our generation, but it's already set its course to be a major player. We need to try and get back to the middle, and that can only happen by listening. While it's easy to believe that everything that the other side has to say is "regressive" or "racist", by not having an active conversation, it only dooms these very people we despise to walk further and further down these pathways and create a cycle that it is increasingly difficult to break. So, what's the answer? Maybe Casey Neistat was right about one thing - we need to talk about this, and be open about our political beliefs. We need to start seeing the other side. Remember, prejudice comes from fear and anger. And fear comes from the unknown. The more that we know and understand the other side, the less afraid we're able to be. Otherwise, the future doesn't look good. Everything I mentioned (and more) happened in this year alone. And unless we start having open discussions and stop stifling others, these problems will continue. People will continue to let atrocities slide by as to not give political opponents power. Media will continue to lie. There will be more vandalism, more assault, and more hatred. And yes, there will be more people advocating for the removal of democracy because it allows opposing opinions. Here's to a better 2017. 1 www.nytimes.com/2016/10/17/us/… 2 link 3 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartnick… 4 link 5 www.gallup.com/poll/195542/ame… 6 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year… 7 www.politico.eu/article/cologn… 8 www.allenbwest.com/matt-palumb… 9 www.reddit.com/r/undelete/ 10 www.reddit.com/r/RedditMinusMo… 11 blog.dilbert.com/post/15130155… Category:Miscellaneous